Potential induced degradation (PID) causes severe damage and financial losses even in modern PV-installations. In Germany, approximately 19% of PV-installations suffer from PID and resulting power loss. This paper focuses on the impact of PID in real installations and how different evaluated time intervals influence the performance ratio (PR) and the determined degradation rate. The analysis focuses exemplarily on a 314 kWp PV-system in the Atlantic coastal climate. IR-imaging is used for identifying PID without operation interruption. Historic electric performance data are available from a monitoring system for several years on system level, string level as well as punctually measured module string IV- curves. The data sets are combined for understanding the PID behavior of this PV plant. The number of PID affected cells within a string varies strongly between 1 to 22% with the string position on the building complex. With increasing number of PID-affected cells the performance ratio decreases down to 60% for daily and monthly periods. Local differences in PID evolution rates are identified. An average PR-reduction of -3.65% per year is found for the PV-plant. On the string level the degradation rate varied up to 8.8% per year depending on the string position and the time period. The analysis reveals that PID generation and evolution in roof-top installations on industrial buildings with locally varying operation conditions can be fairly complex. The results yield that local operating conditions, e.g. ambient weather conditions as well as surrounding conditions on an industrial building, seem to have a dominating impact on the PID evolution rate.

Cracked PV-modules are frequently detected in PV-systems. The impact of cracked cells on the energy yield and module performance under real operating conditions is not yet understood but of great relevance. Standard tests cannot reveal the relevant information conclusively. Therefore, we conducted a twofold analysis. 1) field exposure (global analysis on string level as well as detailed analysis on module level), and 2) load testing in the lab. Here, we present comparative electroluminescence (EL-) images recorded in an outdoor test stand and during load testing. Additionally, infrared (IR-) images as well as power data obtained from loaded and operating (field) conditions are discussed.

Many PV-plants suffer from potential induced degradation (PID) which causes severe power reduction of installed PVmodules. Fast and reliable methods to detect PID and evaluate the impact on the module performance are gaining importance. Drone-assisted IR-inspection is a suitable method. PID affected modules are detected by their characteristic IR-fingerprint, modules with differing number of slightly heated cells occur more frequently at the negative string end. These modules show a degraded IV-curve, lowered Voc and Isc, and electroluminescence (EL)-images with suspicious, dark cells. Also, the measured string power is reduced. For a first quantitative data evaluation the suspicious cell are counted in the IR-images and correlated with the module power. A linear decrease of the module power with increasing number of suspicious cells results. A correlation function for estimating the module power was deduced, which has a mean deviation of less than 7%. This correlation function allows an acceptable approximation of the string power.

First statistical evaluation of IR-inspections of PV-plants reveals that 86% of the installed PV-plants show IR-abnormalities. More than 120 PV-plants with more than 160,000 PV-modules were inspected and evaluated statistically. Main IR-abnormalities or failures in modules and string installations are analyzed, respectively. The average failure rate for PV-modules is about 8% and for module strings approximately 4%. The differentiation between the installation locations reveals that small residential installation show relatively more defective modules than large field installations. – Therefore, IR-imaging is a valuable method to give fast and reliable information about the actual quality and failure rate in inspected PV-installations.

The effect of multilayer barrier materials on the lifetime of organic photovoltaic cells has been investigated. For thin film encapsulated cells a protective layer was used to prevent damage during barrier layer deposition. No post deposition effects developed after dry box storage. In accelerated temperature and humidity lifetime testing the degradation of the encapsulated cells can be related to the loss of effective cell area. An extrapolation of the lifetime at room conditions has been quantitatively determined by comparing the cell degradation with the loss of Ca in a Ca-oxidation test. The results indicate a barrier permeation rate of 10-4 gr/[m2* day] for these samples, corresponding to a lifetime of greater than 5000 hours. Routes to improvement of the OPV cell lifetime are discussed.

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Journal of Applied Remote SensingJournal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and SystemsJournal of Biomedical OpticsJournal of Electronic ImagingJournal of Medical ImagingJournal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMSJournal of NanophotonicsJournal of Photonics for EnergyNeurophotonicsOptical EngineeringSPIE Reviews